1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to an exercise device and a novel method of using it. The invention more particularly relates to a device for exercising the abdominal and lower back muscles while reducing the risk of muscle injury according to a novel method.
2. Background Art
There are many types of exercise devices for exercising the abdominal and lower back muscles of a user. For example, reference may be made to the following U.S. Pat. Nos.: 5,005,832; 5,071,119; 5,171,201; 5,224,914; 5,441,473; 5,492,524; and 5,588,941.
In general, the exercise devices disclosed in the aforementioned U.S. patents facilitated the performance of an abdominal or stomach "crunch" exercise. The crunch exercise is performed by bending at the waist, wherein the abdominal and lower back muscles are contracted to bring the upper torso toward the thighs. The abdominal and lower back muscles are subsequently relaxed slowly to enable the upper torso to return to its starting position. By repeating the exercise for a number of repetitions, the strength of the abdominal and lower back muscles can be significantly increased. U.S. Pat. No. 5,071,119 described an abdominal exercise device for a user sitting in a chair. The device included a spring loaded piston having a push bar supported at one end. In use, the piston engaged a ground surface in front of the seated user, and the arms of the user were brought up to engage the push bar. Starting from an upright position, the body of the user was bent at the waist while contracting the abdominal and lower back muscles to bring the upper torso of the user forwardly toward the thighs of the user. The piston resisted the forward bending movement of the torso, causing the muscles to exert an even greater amount of energy than would otherwise be required to perform the abdominal crunch. As a result, the abdominal and lower back muscles worked harder to complete the crunch, and the muscles were strengthened and conditioned accordingly.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,224,914 disclosed an abdominal exercise device for a seated user including a leg engaging member, a chest engaging member, resilient spring members coupled between the leg engaging member and the chest engaging member, and a pair of hand engaging members extending rearwardly from the chest engaging members. The exercise device was positioned on the seated user with the leg engaging member resting on the thighs of the user, and the chest engaging member abutting the chest of the user. The user grasped the hand engaging members to maintain the arms of the user against the upper torso of the user, and to maintain the hands of the user adjacent to the chest. Subsequently, the body of the user was bent forwardly at the waist while contracting the abdominal and lower back muscles to cause the chest engaging member to be brought toward the leg engaging member. The spring members resisted the movement of the chest engaging member relative to the leg engaging member to increase the effectiveness of the crunch exercise.
Although the prior known exercise devices were capable of facilitating the performance of crunch exercises to strengthen the abdominal and lower back muscles of the user, all of the prior known exercise devices suffered from the same serious drawback, in that they could inadvertently cause injury to the user. Also, such devices could aggravate or increase the extent of existing injuries to the lower back muscles. In this regard, people with injuries to the lower back muscles were susceptible to further injury by performing the standard crunch exercise.
As a result, it has been advisable for people with existing muscle injuries to avoid exercising the abdominal and lower back muscles until such time that the injuries had healed, and even then such person would be susceptible to re-injury.
The back and abdominal muscle group comprises several individual muscles, with each muscle contributing to the overall health and wellness of the back and abdomen. For example, the abdomen has a vertically positioned main muscle and diagonally positioned oblique muscles. The main muscle interacts with the oblique muscles to provide strength and support in bending, reaching, and lifting. In the prior art, the main muscle receives some amount of exercise with the "crunch" type motion, although the exercise is accompanied with the risks discussed above. Further, the forward motion of the crunch exercise fails to adequately address the needs of the diagonally positioned oblique muscle. By failing to properly address other muscles in the back and abdomen, the prior art exercises provide an incomplete workout for the back and abdomen, resulting in diminished health.
Further, people of varying builds need to tone and strengthen their back and abdomen areas. However, optimum exercise benefit only comes from using an exercise device when it is properly sized and placed on a particular individual. In particular, proper placement of the crunch-type exercise device is dependent on an individual's torso length. Since torso length affects the distance from the lap to the chest, an individual's torso length determines how much the user must bend to use the device. It is unrealistic that a person with a long torso can effective use an exercise device sized to a person with a shorter torso length. In such a situation the person with the long torso length will be forced to bend forward to grasp and position the exercise device, while a person with a short torso length will have to uncomfortably extend. Using the device in such positions not only results in a less effective workout, but may even contribute to the risk of injury in using the prior art devices.
Therefore, it would be highly desirable to have a new and improved exercise device for exercising the abdominal and lower back muscles of a user, without performing a crunch type of exercise, in accordance with a novel method and exercise device. Such an exercise device should facilitate strengthening the abdominal and lower back muscles in a safe and convenient manner. It is also desirable that the exercise device work on other muscles in the area including the oblique muscles. The device should facilitate the exercising of the muscles in an effective manner, with little or no risk of injury to the user, or of re-injuring or aggravating old injuries. It would be desirable to have such a device which could be used conveniently while seated in a chair, without the need of having the user wear exercise or other leisure type clothing. Also, such a device should be compact in size and light in weight so that it can be readily transported, or stored away when not in use. Further, it would be advantageous if the device could not only be fitted to users of varying torso length.